Living in the Moment

When I graduated from high school back in 1989, I was one of those kids that just "had" to leave the mountain and head to the valley. I only lasted a year in the big city, but I what I learned in that year was priceless. I was trying to go to school, but like many, I was completely broke. I had always had an interest in martial arts and just happened to find a job at a local karate studio. What they would teach me, I would pass on to younger kids during group lessons. I was fortunate enough to have a teacher whose whole goal was to immerse himself in the zen way of thinking. I was impressed with his confidence, his inner peace, and the quiet strength he had within himself. He was small of stature, but to see him fight was impressive. More often then not, he would have his opponent on the floor (quite often me) with little or no effort at all.

With each lesson, he tried to teach me his way of thinking. The Zen way. At 19 years old, my mind was full of all kinds of things. His goal was for me to "empty my cup". An empty mind has no preconceived ideas. It expects nothing yet absorbs everything. Living in moment is only possible with an empty mind. The mind must be vacant of all thoughts except for those that relate to what is happening at that exact moment.

This is an art that can take years if not a lifetime to master. The ability for the human mind to focus on a single second, a single moment, allows the body to maximize the experience. This is true of any possibe activity you may be performing.

Since I've coached baseball for so long, I'll use it as an example. Either on offense or defense, there is typically a million things going on the head of a player at any given moment. If you can get that player to focus 100% on that exact moment, the odds of making a mistake are next to nothing. One thing going through that players mind (whether they admit it or not) is the possibility of making a mistake. Think of the gratification that player would have if he could immerse himself in this exact moment. The beauty of making the play. Everything else in his mind is gone. No surrounding noise, no doubts, no fears, no thoughts. Just him, a little 3 inch baseball, and that is it. The ability to focus on this exact moment is hard. If you have ever tried it, it's seems nearly impossible.

An even better example is when your talking to a patient. Are you sincerly listening to that patient or are you artificially listening as to move on as fast as you can to the next patient. Have you given your mind 100% to that patient at that very time? Or are you thinking of how much you have to do today, or are you thinking about that arguement you had at home this morning, etc. Does that make sense?

Think of the possibilities, the gratification one could obtain and enjoy by living in the very moment something is occuring. Eliminate any thoughts that take away from the moment. Give that very moment, every second of that very moment, one hundred percent of your mind and body. Its a deep way to think if you're not used to it, but I promise that when you attempt it, you will find greater enjoyment and greater reward in everything you do.
Like I said, this a skill that is very hard to master. Give it a try. I wish I made this a practice in everything I do, as I know it would make each and every moment more special. It's something I want to start working on as a part of daily life. I want to give each and every person I'm with, all of my attention at the very moment I'm relating to them. I want to cherish every moment of every thing I'm doing. Deep stuff, but I think its obtainable. It allows every moment to have more value. Nothing is short changed.

I hope all that makes sense. I'm going to go back and proof read everything I just wrote. I sure it makes as much sense as I thought it did as I was writing it.

Best of luck with living in the moment.
Rusty-------Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry